


Odd Brains Act Alike

by troublesome_tome



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Autistic Pearl, Autistic Peridot, Gen, Infodumping, Special Interests, Stimming, Swords, bonding over same brainweird, camp pining hearts essay, not pearlidot but you can read it as such if you'd like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:34:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23022541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/troublesome_tome/pseuds/troublesome_tome
Summary: Two different moments where Pearl and Peridot bond over a few similar shared experiences, up to and including to wild rambles about their obsessions.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> what's up gay people i have not written a fic in FOREVER. also new special interest ganggggggggg B) i'm a steven universe fanfic author now. fight me lol. anyway i love these two so much!!!

The Crystal Gems sat near the barn, taking a well-deserved rest from their laborious construction of the drill. Pearl and Steven were humming some sort of song together, an interesting little duet with no words. Amethyst and Garnet were chatting off to the side, discussing things that were nearly unintelligible over the hums of Pearl and Steven, and definitely not over the whirr of the power drill Peridot was holding.

Peridot was still at work on the drill; while she did respect the need to feel good, she’d feel much, much better if she knew that the Earth wasn’t going to be destroyed! Even in the short time she had lived there, she had come to see it as her home. It was new and different, never monotonous like Homeworld was, and by the stars was it loud sometimes. It was loud right now, actually.

The humming was pleasant, but combined with the sounds of metal hitting metal and the whirring of the drill, and with Amethyst rambling all under that, Peridot was starting to feel a little bit tense. Noise got to her sometimes. Keeping a steady hand on the exterior of the large drill, she focused on drilling the final pieces into place and repeatedly rubbed her fingers against each other. Simple motions like that looked silly, but helped to keep her from breaking down and losing composure when she needed to be serious. Over the years, she had learned to adapt to her sensitivities and overcome them; this “finger trick,” as she called it, was the first technique she learned while working in the large, loud crowds on Homeworld.

The final metal addition to the cockpit of the drill settled in with a clink, and Peridot turned off her power drill and sighed. That was one noise removed from the cacophony, at least, but her head was still starting to spin. Steven had gotten up and went to go sit by Lion, but Pearl was still humming to herself. Amethyst and Garnet were still talking, though Garnet was mostly silent, so Peridot decided to inform the second-most competent (herself being the first, of course) of the completion of this task.

“Pearl,” Peridot said flatly, standing in front of her awkwardly, “this section of the drill has been completed. We’ll likely be done with the construction soon.”  
Pearl was obviously caught off guard, and nervously looked down, not looking Peridot in the eyes. Regardless, she paid attention to the good news. “Oh, fantastic!” Pearl finally looked up, but still didn’t meet the smaller gem’s gaze.  
Peridot noticed her making odd movements with her hands; she was wiggling her fingers around, and even flapping them slightly. It struck Peridot as familiar, since she did something similar when she was happy or excited.

“What are you doing?” Peridot asked bluntly, looking at Pearl inquisitively.

“O-oh, sorry, it’s just something I do,” Pearl replied, swiftly grasping one hand with the other. Her cheeks filled with a slight blue tint, and she once again averted her eyes from Peridot.

“Wait, you don’t have to stop! I do the same thing!” Peridot huffed. She took a seat next to Pearl, keeping her distance but acting somewhat friendlier than usual. “Whenever I’m really excited or happy, or things like that, I get this… urge to start doing what you were doing just then! I don’t know what it’s called.”

Pearl sighed in relief, and rested her hands in her lap. “Steven calls it stimming,” she explained. “I try to hide it, but sometimes I feel like I have to do it.”

Peridot cocked her head. “Why do you hide it?” 

“I… think it’s embarrassing. I-I know I can’t help it, but-“ Pearl stopped talking and loudly exhaled. “I know I’m a Gem, but living on Earth has made me want to… fit in, I suppose.”

Peridot scoffed. “Why would you want to ‘fit in’ on Earth? You’re not a human, why bother ‘fitting in’ with them? Besides, you said Steven calls it ‘stimming.’ Does he do it too?”

“Yes, he does. Greg says he’s something called… ‘autistic?’ And, he’s said I might be too, which would explain the stimming.”

“What’s… ‘autistic?’” Something about this conversation was resonating with Peridot, but she couldn’t place why.

“I’m not sure how to explain it. Greg and Steven have said it’s a human disorder, and that it can make it hard to socialize.” Pearl explained it in a very animated way. “Some autistic people struggle with sensory issues, so they can’t handle loud sounds or bright lights-“

Pearl was cut off by Peridot loudly exclaiming, “OHHHHH!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just earlier, I was getting frustrated by all of the noise around here! You and Steven singing, the other two talking, and the sound of the drill! To deal with it, I just started doing… this!” Peridot did the “finger trick,” furiously rubbing her fingers against each other to demonstrate.

Pearl laughed at the ridiculous display. “That does look like stimming!” Watching Peridot do it inspired Pearl to mimic her, and both of them were doing the same repetitive movement.  
It was such a simple discussion, but it brought the two polarized gems closer together. Work on the drill continued as the days went on, with Pearl and Peridot having a newfound sort of understanding of one another.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the second one babey.

Peridot was pacing around the barn, rereading the draft of her essay she had written. It was a very quickly written essay, with a lot of mistakes; she grimaced as she noticed every sentence that didn’t make grammatical sense, and grumbled while correcting them. She had written it in a hurry in the middle of the night while still coming down from a long Camp Pining Hearts binge; the show had quickly taken over her thought processes, and all she wanted to do was ramble about it to someone who would listen.

Someone like…

Pearl!

The idea came to her head when, a.) she remembered Pearl had a similar condition to her, and b.) she saw Pearl’s fighting the air with a sword in hand.

“Pearl?” Peridot called from inside the barn, watching the graceful gem twirl and strike at nothing. “Is there something going on??”

“Oh, Peridot!” Pearl called back, holding her sword with one hand. “I was just doing some practice out here. The outdoors is nice, sometimes.”

“So, there’s no fight or anything?”

“No, why?”

“Why are you doing that if there’s nothing to prepare for?”

“Well, you never know what Homeworld will throw at us, or when!” Pearl said, clearly lying through her teeth. “Plus, I just… really like sword fighting. It’s my special interest.”

“Special interest?”

“It’s an autism thing. It’s a very intense, passionate interest; much more so than a regular interest,” Pearl said. “Mine is sword fighting, Steven’s is Gem powers and history, and Connie’s is The Spirit Morph Saga.”

Peridot looked at Pearl, looked at her essay, and then looked back at Pearl. “Mine is Camp Pining Hearts.”

“Camp… Pining Hearts?”

Peridot gasped. “It’s only the greatest show ever! Steven introduced me to it last week, and I can’t stop watching it!” She held up her essay, showing Pearl her scrawling handwriting in the process. “I wrote this essay analyzing the relationships between the campers, to prove my point that Paulette has no place in the social hierarchy of the camp!”

Pearl grimaced at the handwriting, but otherwise listened to Peridot as she rambled about her favorite Canadian soap opera. She didn’t understand very much of it, having never watched the show, but thought Peridot’s explanation of why Paulette should be removed from the camp and the show was quite entertaining and well-reasoned.

“…And that is why Pierre and Percy are an infinitely more compatible pair than Percy and Paulette, and why season 5 of Camp Pining Hearts is a disgrace to the rest of the show!” Peridot finished her essay with a stomp, standing proud before Pearl like a student having just given a presentation to the class.

Pearl applauded, giving Peridot an ego boost she didn’t exactly deserve. “Bravo, bravo! You’re so passionate, Peridot!” Pearl picked up her sword, holding it out gently. “Now that you’ve given me this knowledge, would you like to hear about what I’ve been doing today?”

“It’s only common human courtesy that I return the favor,” Peridot said. Pearl grinned, and immediately went off into a ramble about swords.

“There’s many different types of swords, such as the katana or the rapier or the scimitar,” she explained. “This sword here is a sabre, or a backsword with a curved blade.” She held the sabre out, allowing Peridot to examine it as well. “Different swords have different styles of fighting; here, let me show you.” 

Pearl pulled a few other types of swords from her gemstone, with Peridot watching in awe. She demonstrated how to handle a sword, and how to strike with one properly, each movement as elegant as the last. Peridot didn’t necessarily understand it – she wasn’t very graceful, and swords weren’t her preferred weapon, but watching Pearl do it so beautifully and so passionately was fascinating.

With a final leap, strike, and land, Pearl finished her demonstration, putting the swords back into her gem. 

“That was… so cool!” Peridot exclaimed. “I never would have guessed a pearl could do something like that!”

Pearl groaned at the response.

“I-I mean, I never thought fights could be so graceful like that! You were really good!” Peridot quickly grew flustered; she was still adapting to the lack of a caste system.

Pearl knew that, and accepted the reworded sentiment. “Thank you, I try to keep my skills honed,” she said as she bowed. “I think I should head back to the Temple now. Tell me when you’ve finished your essay!”

Pearl headed off, back to the Temple, waving as she went. Peridot smiled to herself, clutching her essay to her chest. Who knew info-dumping could be so entertaining?


End file.
